Agriculture Flashcards
Agriculture
Raising crops and livestock for human use and/or consumption
Cropland
Land used for food or fiber
Rangeland
Land used for grazing livestock
Traditional Agriculture
Using biological organisms for farming (people and animals)
Industrial Agriculture
Using irrigation, synthetic fertilizer, pesticides, and machinery for farming
Monoculture
Uniform planting of one crop
Green Revolution
Industrialized agriculture spreading to developing nations
Agriculture started about _ years ago worldwide, but probably earliest in the _ in the middle east.
10000; fertile crescent
Irrigation
Diverting water for farming use
Fertilizers
Essential nutrients, inorganic or organic, added to crops
Overgrazing
An area that has suffered from the result of too many critters feeding on it
Food Security
A reliable source of food available for the people
Undernourised
People do not receive 90% of their caloric needs
Overnourished
People receive way too many calories each day
Ultimately the goal of agriculture is to _ the people.
Feed
The _ is a controversial movement started by Dr. Norman Borlaug (an Aggie) in the 1950s. It was a way to increase the output of specific crops to combat worldwide hunger through _. It has brought both good and bad.
Green Revolution; selective genetic breeding
Green Revolution Pros
Increased worldwide wheat, corn, and maize production
Saved forest land
Fed over 1 billion people
Green Revolution Cons
Started monoculture
Increased industrialization
Genetically modified crops
Shifted energy production from sun based to oil based
With the advent of _, you see the rise of mass crop kills by pests. To combat that, we use a variety of chemicals that kill the pests.
Monoculture
Pests are starting to become _ to pesticides, and we thus are forced to make stronger, more toxic chemicals.
Genetically resistant
Texas melon crop in 1997 was destroyed by _ because of a resistance to _.
Gummy stem blight; Benlate
Biological Control/Biocontrol
Using one organism to combat another (examples: parasitic wasps, cactus moth, Bacilus thuringiensis); can become pests themselves; beneficial pollinators?
Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Uses biocontrol, chemicals if necessary, transgenic crops, crop rotation, and mechanical removal of pests
_ are those that have had their genetic material altered to fit the needs of a specific purpose. Sounds like a great idea in practice, but what does it do to our bodies? Greed has set in big time.
Genetically modified organisms
Over _ of all the crops in the US are GMOs.
Half
GMOs have only been in effect for _ years or so, which is not long enough for sufficient scientific testing.
20
Should we take a _?
Precautionary principle
We are starting to see the fall of _, or heirloom variety foods. In the US we have lost _ of the diversity of our fruits and vegetables in a little under 100 years.
Heritage; 90%
In China, the number of wheat varieties have dropped from _ in 1949 to _ in 1970.
10000; 1000
_ are starting to combat the lack of diversity of our food by storing and preserving as many varieties of seeds as they possibly can.
Seed banks
GMO Examples
Flavr Savr tomatoes Bt crops StarLink corn Monsato Roundup Ready crops Terminator seeds
_ in Spitsbergen, Norway seeks to save the world’s seed varieties from destruction. Over _ seeds are stored here.
Svalbard Global Seed Vault; 400000
The _ in England has over _ different types of seed.
Royal Seed Conservatory; 4 billion
In addition to plant material, most people also feed on livestock products. As globalization has increased, so has our demand for livestock, and so _ has taken over. Since the 1950s the family farm is no more.
Industrial feedlot agriculture
Feedlot
Factory farm where animals are concentrated into small, efficient spaces
CAFO
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation
Feedlots are gross. One cow can produce _ pounds of waste a year. The largest feedlot operation in the US can house over _ head of cattle.This amount of waste generated is more than the cities of Boston, Atlanta, St. Louis, and Denver combined.
44975; 200000
On average, a steer in a feedlot will eat _ pounds of grain and gain _ pounds in weight.
3000; 400
There has been a recent push to return to traditional farming practices. _ by definition is farming that does not deplete soil nutrients faster than they can be put back intro the system. We will still use synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, etc., but use good management practices such as no-till, crop rotation, and good carrying capacities.
Sustainable agriculture
Due to the rise in concern of the public over artificial chemicals in their food, the _ has started to explode in the 21st century. Since 2000, the USDA has had strict certification systems and labeling for organic produce, or those products grown without the addition of any synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, or herbicides. Any food label starting with a 9 on the code is an organic product.
Organic movement
Aquaculture
The farming of aquatic organisms (mostly fish)
Aquaculture Pros
Prevents taking natural fish from their habitats and alleviates over harvesting; also very nutritious
Aquaculture Cons
Virus outbreaks can happen as well as antibiotic contamination; there are also GM fish
One of the best things you can do is _. The average food product travels _ miles before it gets to your plate.
Buy produce from your local business and farmers; 1400
Community-supported Agriculure
Get involved in a community garden
Energy/Feed Inputs
Cow: 20 k - 1 kg Pig: 7.3 k - 1 kg Milk: 4.5 k - 1 kg Chicken: 2.8 k - 1 kg Egg: 1.1 k - 1 kg
